Laura Cohen is the director of the Criminal and Youth Justice Clinic and
formerly worked for the New York City Legal Aid Society's Juvenile
Rights Division. She's written articles on juvenile justice, parole,
legal ethics, lawyering theory, and the legal representation of
adolescents. She's also spearheaded several important amicus briefs
before the New Jersey Supreme Court on juvenile justice matters.
She is a Distinguished Clinical Professor of Law, the Justice
Virginia Long Scholar, and director of the Rutgers Criminal and Youth
Justice Clinic (CYJC). The CYJC's mission of providing post-conviction
legal representation to clients incarcerated as adolescents in matters
ranging from conditions of confinement and actual innocence to parole
and executive clemency is unique among the nation's law school clinics.
Professor Cohen also codirects both the Rutgers Center on Youth
Violence and Juvenile Justice and (with Professor Sandra Simkins) the
Northeast Juvenile Defender Center, a regional affiliate of the National
Juvenile Defender Center.
One of the country's leading experts on juvenile justice and the legal
representation of youth, Professor Cohen was appointed in 2013 as a
consultant to the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights
Division in its investigation of systemic due process violations in the
St. Louis County, Missouri, Juvenile Court. Prior to joining the Rutgers
faculty, she was the director of training for the New York City Legal
Aid Society's Juvenile Rights Division, where she oversaw the attorney
training program and public policy initiatives relating to child welfare
and juvenile justice. She also served as deputy court monitor for the
U.S. District Court, District of Puerto Rico in Morales Feliciano v. Hernandez Colon, a
federal class action challenging conditions of confinement in Puerto
Rico's prisons; senior policy analyst for the Violence Institute of New
Jersey; and staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society's Juvenile Rights
Division in the Bronx.
Under Professor Cohen's direction, the CYJC has spearheaded several
important policy and law reform initiatives. These include creation of
Youth Justice New Jersey, a statewide juvenile justice reform coalition;
successful amicus curiae efforts before the New Jersey Supreme
Court; and appellate victories on behalf of individual clients that
have given rise to systemic change.
In 2012, Professor Cohen received the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation's Champion for Change award in recognition of her
work with system-involved youth. She also is the recipient of the
National Juvenile Defender Center's Robert E. Shepherd Award for
Excellence in Juvenile Defense and the American Civil Liberties Union of
New Jersey's Legal Leadership Award. Her scholarship explores topics
ranging from juvenile justice and parole to legal ethics and lawyering
theory, with a particular focus on the legal representation of
adolescents.
Professor Cohen earned her B.A. summa cum laude from Rutgers
College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D. from
Columbia Law School, where she was managing editor of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review.
